Vivekananda: Divinity's Soul-Rainbow and humanity's heart-blossom
Peace Concert dedications
1.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most devotedly dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who conquered the heart of the World’s Parliament of Religions precisely one hundred years ago. The centenary of his address will take place in August in Chicago, and I am extremely, extremely grateful to the authorities who are organising this world conference in Chicago to commemorate the memory of Swami Vivekananda, for they have invited me to open the first session with a few minutes of silent prayer and meditation.In silence, in deep silence, in breathless silence, I am offering my gratitude to the mighty lion-soul of Swami Vivekananda, to his Master, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa, and also to his Mother, his Divine Mother Absolute, Mother Kali.
VK 1. 19 May 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
2.
As you know, we have started observing Swami Vivekananda’s centenary — not his birth centenary, but the centenary of the World’s Parliament of Religions in Chicago. It was one hundred years ago that Vivekananda became the supreme hero of the Parliament. It is my wish to offer thirty-nine Peace Concerts and dedicate them to him. He lived for thirty-nine years, and I wish to observe each year of his earthly existence by offering him, his immortal soul, a Peace Concert.
VK 2. 21 May 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
3.
Today’s Peace Concert I am devotedly dedicating to the indomitable lion-hearted soul, Swami Vivekananda, who challenged the pride of ignorance-night for the manifestation of divine Light here on earth.
VK 3. 23 May 1993, David A. Stein Junior High School, Bronx, New York.↩
4.
Today’s Peace Concert I am prayerfully dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, whose heart was humanity’s ceaseless suffering and whose soul is Immortality’s Summit-Delight.
VK 4. 26 May 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
5.
Today’s Peace Concert I am offering to Swami Vivekananda, who became the streaming tears of the poor and the bleeding heart of the weak.
VK 5. 28 May 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
6.
Today’s Peace Concert I am devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, the world-teacher, who advised the world to live in the heart-discovered oneness-religion and not in the mind-invented division-religions.
VK 6. 29 May 1993, Riverdale Dance Theater, Bronx, New York.↩
7.
Today’s Peace Concert I am offering to Swami Vivekananda, whose soul was made of Immortality’s Promise and whose heart was made of Infinity’s Faith.
VK 7. 2 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
8.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly, affectionately and devotedly offering to the patriot-freedom-fighter and justice-lover in Swami Vivekananda.
VK 8. 4 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
9.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who told us that humanity-servers are God-fulfillers in a very special way.
VK 9. 5 June 1993, First Unitarian Church, Brooklyn, New York.↩
10.
Today’s Peace Concert I am devotedly dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, whose momentous utterance runs: “First learn to obey; the Command will come by itself.”
11 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
11.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most devotedly dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, India’s and Asia’s first spiritual Ambassador to America and the West.
VK 11. 16 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
12.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who was at once Eternity’s Aspiration-Cry and Immortality’s Dedication-Smile.
VK 12. 18 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
13.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who commanded India’s silence-flooded heart to speak and who begged America’s sound-oriented mind to listen.
VK 13. 19 June 1993, James J. Reynolds Jr. High School Brooklyn, New York.↩
14.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and devotedly offering to Narendranath, Vivekananda, who was the aspiration-dedication-son of his physical mother, Bhuvaneshwari, and the compassion-benediction-son of his spiritual mother, Sarada Devi.
VK 14. 25 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
15.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who did not believe in compromise. He wanted each and every human being to see the face of reality and become the heart of reality.
VK 15. 26 June 1993, Paul Robeson Theater, Brooklyn, New York.↩
16.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, who fought and fought ceaselessly against the mind-division-religions, and loved and loved unreservedly the heart-union-religion.
VK 16. 30 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
17.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, the supreme explorer and distributor of the universal religion-fragrance.
VK 17. 8 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
18.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most devotedly dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who came from India to the New World precisely one hundred years ago to quench the inner thirst of America and the West. Both the giver and the receiver derived abundant satisfaction from each other.
VK 18. 11 July 1993, Buchman Hall, New York, New York.↩
19.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to the birthless and deathless spirit of Swami Vivekananda, who challenged the pride of ignorance-night for the illumination of humanity’s mind, for the perfection of humanity’s heart and for the transformation of humanity’s life.
VK 19. 14 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
20.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and devotedly offering to Naren, the sleepless seeker of the ultimate Truth, and Vivekananda, the peerless teacher of the universal Religion.
VK 20. 17 July 1993, St. Peter's Church, New York, New York.↩
21.
Today’s Peace Concert I am devotedly and humbly offering to Swami Vivekananda, the unparalleled conqueror of earth-life’s innumerable battles.
VK 21. 21 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
22.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating prayerfully, soulfully and devotedly to Swami Vivekananda, with whom strength indomitable was born — and no, not even an iota of fear!
VK 22. 23 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
23.
Today’s Peace Concert I am prayerfully and soulfully dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, whose aspiration-heart and dedication-life embodied infinite tears, and whose realisation-soul embodied infinite silence and peace.
VK 23. 24 July 1993, Public School 158, New York, New York.↩
24.
Today’s Peace Concert I am soulfully and devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, who was the infallibility-promise of the higher worlds and the infallibility-fulfilment of the inner worlds.
VK 24. 28 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
25.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, the Vedantin of Vedantins, who preached and advocated the supreme mantra-incantation: “He, the Absolute Lord Supreme, am I.”
VK 25. 30 July 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
26.
Today’s Peace Concert I am soulfully dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who ushered in the transcendental glories and achievements for Bengal, India — Mother India.
VK 26. 31 July 1993, Christ and St. Stephen's Church, New York, New York.↩
27.
Today’s Peace Concert I am very prayerfully dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who was beauty’s life from Bengal, purity’s heart from India and Divinity’s Soul from the Universe.
VK 27. 4 August 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
28.
Today’s Peace Concert I am soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who was at once Mother-Earth’s heart-aspiration-cries and Father-Heaven’s Soul-Satisfaction-Smiles.
VK 28. 7 August 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
29.
Today’s Peace Concert I am dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who came into this world from Heaven with boundless Blessings, Compassion and Concern, and went back to Heaven with boundless tears of gratitude from Mother-Earth.
VK 29. 10 August 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
30.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most lovingly and most devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, who spoke about himself as condensed India. Nothing can be more accurate and more perfect than this statement of his in the world of spirituality.
VK 30. 11 August 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
31.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most soulfully dedicating to Swami Vivekananda, who wanted to remain all the time in the meditation of perennial bliss, and this perennial bliss he discovered and became only through his sleepless and selfless service for the transformation of humanity’s terrestrial nature.
VK 31. 20 August 1993, Julia Richman High School, New York, New York.↩
32.
Today our Peace-Blossom-Concert I am most devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, whose heart became the flower and whose soul became the fragrance of the World’s Parliament of Religions here in Chicago one hundred years ago.
VK 32. 29 August 1993, State Ballroom, Palmer House Hotel, Chicago. This Peace Concert was offered as part of the proceedings of the Parliament of the World's Religions, held in Chicago from 28 August through 4 September 1993.↩
33.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who came from the Heart of the Transcendental God to serve the life of the Universal God.
VK 33. 31 August 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York. The first edition published "Today's Peace Concert I am lovingly and soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who came from the Heart of the Transcendental God and who served the Universal God." This has been replaced with the audio transcription above.↩
34.
Today’s Peace Concert I am lovingly and soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who came into the world to illumine humanity’s doubting mind and to feed humanity’s hungry heart.
VK 34. 1 September 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
35.
Today’s Peace Concert I am soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who was on earth only for thirty-nine fleeting years, but brought down from Heaven Infinity’s Light and Immortality’s Compassion to feed the aspiring heart of humanity.
VK 35. 5 September 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
36.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most soulfully offering to Swami Vivekananda, who in effect said to his Indian brothers and sisters: “My Indian brothers and sisters, strength you need, strength.”To his American brothers and sisters he said: “My American brothers and sisters, peace you need, peace.”
And to himself he said: “Grace I need from Above, Grace, to fulfil my God-ordained mission on earth.”
VK 36. 8 September 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York.↩
37.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda, who carried with him the ancient Vedic seers’ highest realisations in India and offered them to the young, energetic, dynamic, forward-marching and upward-looking nation America’s aspiration-heart.
VK 37. 11 September 1993, Aspiration-Ground, Queens, New York. This Peace Concert was offered on the same day that Swami Vivekananda addressed the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago for the first time one hundred years ago — 11 September 1893.↩
38.
Today’s Peace Concert I am most lovingly and most devotedly offering to Swami Vivekananda. We are having the Peace Concert here at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. I am inspired to share with you the glowing tributes paid to Vivekananda by K.M. Munshi, the Founder of the Bhavan:
VK 38. 16 September 1993, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA, New York, New York.↩
39. The Chicago Conference
It is my firm inner conviction that the Chicago Conference would have been buried in oblivion long ago, as many world conferences have been, had Vivekananda not appeared from the Indian firmament to the American firmament.The City of Chicago, in spite of the many various good qualities that it embodies, would have been known only as a city of unpredictable weather! But for Chicago to become the cynosure of all major religions would have been an impossible task.
From the spiritual point of view, let us take Chicago as the aspiring humanity’s heart-flower, and Vivekananda as the illumining Divinity’s Soul-Fragrance.
May Chicago the temple and Vivekananda the shrine inseparably and supremely inspire and guide the Religion of all religions: man, and bring down the Vision of the Transcendent God and raise the Dedication of the Immanent God to transform humanity’s earth-bound cries and Divinity’s Heaven-free Smiles.
VK 39. 18 September 1993, Rosemont Horizon, Chicago↩
Remarks following the first Peace Concert in this series
Uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhataKsurasya dhara nisita duratyaya
//Durgam pathas tat kavayo vadanti_ 41
“Arise! Awake!” — this was Vivekananda’s choice motto.
“Arise! Awake!” — _Uttisthata jagrata. Each human being must needs have this message supreme imprinted on the tablet of his aspiring heart. “Arise! Awake!” If you want to follow the path of spirituality, then you must realise that this is a difficult path to walk along. “It is as sharp as the edge of a razor.” Hard, extremely hard it is to walk along this path, but again, we have learned from the sages of the hoary past that the Knowledge supreme that we are going to attain is not for the weakling; it is for the inner hero supreme. Even the soul that is our God-representative on earth cannot be won by the weakling. Nayam atma bala hinena labhya — “The soul cannot be won by the weakling.” What do we mean by this? To win the soul means to listen to the dictates of the soul. Only he who is brave can abide by the dictates of his soul. The soul is the only reality that we have and that we are. Each time we ignore the dictates of our soul either consciously or unconsciously, we indefinitely delay our spiritual progress. You may ask, “How can we know the dictates of our soul?” You can! There is a very simple way, an easier than the easiest way: It is by virtue of your heart’s cry. If you cry and pray to your Inner Pilot, the Lord Supreme, to illumine you, to liberate you from your ignorance-cherishing mind, then the heart can easily convey the message of your soul to you. There are many truth-seekers and God-lovers who believe in God, but who find it difficult to believe in their souls. But if you believe in the ocean, which is God, then how can you fail to believe in the countless drops, waves and surges of the ocean, which are our souls? Unfortunately, there are some seekers who do not want to believe in the existence of their souls because they are afraid of their soul’s operation in and through them. They feel so often they are committing Himalayan blunders. If the soul does exist, then perhaps the soul is extremely displeased with them and the soul, like the human mother, the physical mother, can reprimand the naughty children. But little do the children care to know that it is the supreme task of the mother to make her children perfect. It is the bounden duty of the soul to make our body, vital, mind and heart perfect. The soul is our inner tutor. This tutor is all eagerness to help us learn the inner language, study the inner subject and grow into the infinite effulgence of Light and Delight. We must not only believe in the existence of the soul, but we must and must abide by the dictates of the soul and most ardently aspire to please the soul. The soul is the guide. We definitely need the guide to lead us, guide us and take us to our Goal supreme. I am making a fervent request to all of you to dive deep within every day in order to feel the presence of your soul. To please your soul is infinitely more difficult than to please the Absolute Supreme. The Absolute Supreme has His infinite Compassion and He can wait throughout Eternity for you if you are delaying your progress. But your soul, the real reality within you, knows that the sooner you reach your Goal the better, for a new beginning, a new, illumining, more illumining and most illumining beginning is awaiting your arrival. As I always say, today’s goal is tomorrow’s starting point. We are all seekers — God-seekers and God-lovers. Let us have implicit faith in our soul, the God-representative within us. Let us try to abide by the dictates of our soul, for if we cannot please our primary school teacher, then we will never be able to proceed to high school, college and university. <html>
<hr /> <p id="fn40"> VK 40. 19 May 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.<a href="#fnref40">↩</a></p> <p id="fn40"> VK 40. <em>Uttisthata jagrata prapya varan nibodhata…</em> A Sanskrit mantra from the Upanishads. The translation is: “Arise, awake, realise and achieve the Highest with the help of the illumining, guiding and fulfilling Masters. The path is as sharp as the edge of a razor, difficult to cross, hard to tread — so declare the wise sages.”<a href="#fnref40">↩</a></p>
</html><html></div></html> <html>
</html>
Remarks following the 7th Peace Concert
Religions are fighting and fighting. But there is only one religion, which is the religion of the heart. That is what Swami Vivekananda taught us. The true religion is not a mind-made religion, but a heart-made religion. What is of paramount importance is not the many mind-invented religions, but the one heart-discovered religion.
VK 41. 2 June 1993, Public School 86, Queens, New York.↩
Remarks at the 18th Peace Concert before singing "Man chalo"
I shall now sing an immortal song. This particular song is immortal for various reasons. When Naren, who later on became Swami Vivekananda, met with his Master, Sri Ramakrishna, for the first time, Naren sang this song. While the song was being sung, Sri Ramakrishna entered into a very, very deep trance.Sri Ramakrishna heard the song from his beloved Naren for the first time. Later on, many, many times Naren sang this song to please his Master. This particular song in the spiritual world, in the inner world, especially in the heart of Bengal, has become immortal. It has touched the very breath, if not of the Indian, then of the Bengali heart.
Originally the mind came from the high, higher, highest Source. In this song, the first line begins, “O my mind, go back to your own highest realm, to your own Source. In this foreign world do not roam. O my mind, let us go back, you and I, to the Source.”
In India I heard this song many, many times, and it inspired me to a great extent. About six or seven years ago I heard it for the first time from the wife of Dr. Jayaraman-ji, our dearest sister Tulsi-ben. Physically she is no longer with us, but spiritually she is. She sang this song at my request, and her prayerful heart and soulful voice gave my heart tremendous delight and a divine sense of satisfaction.
Naren inspired his Master to such an extent that the Master entered into his deep, deeper, deepest trance. As you all know, my Master is my Lord Beloved Supreme, and those who are in my boat, my students, also have the same Master, our Lord Beloved Supreme. My song may not or will not or cannot inspire my Master to enter into His Trance, but I can do something else. I can most prayerfully and most devotedly place the light and delight of this song at the Feet of my Lord Beloved Supreme, and I am making a special request to my students to do the same while I am singing this song.
VK 42. 11 July 1993, Buchman Hall, New York, New York.↩
I searched and searched
I searched and searched I searched and searched For my soul. At last I found my soul in the Flute of Krishna.I searched and searched For my heart. At last I found my heart in the Cross of Christ.
I searched and searched For my mind. At last I found my mind in the Meditation of Buddha.
I searched and searched For my vital. At last I found my vital in the Life of Vivekananda.
I searched and searched For my body. At last I found my body on the Lap of the Supreme.
43. From The Dance of life poetry series Part V, 1973.↩
Editor’s preface to first edition
In May of 1993, the centennial year of Swami Vivckananda's address to the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, Sri Chinmoy was inspired to embark on a special project to honour his Indian countryman, a universal hero-warrior. His vision was to offer thirty-nine Peace Concerts dedicated to Swami Vivekananda. Sri Chinmoy chose this number because Swami Vivekananda lived on earth for only thirty-nine years.This booklet contains the prayerful words of dedication which Sri Chinmoy spoke during each concert. Sri Chinmoy's profound messages, silent meditations and haunting music together created an atmosphere that was permeated with the spirit of Vivekananda, the ochre-dad monk whose life and teachings contributed so much to humanity and especially to America.
